Transit system



P. SACHS TRANSIT SYSTEM Filed July 5, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. 54/14 2 XAw BY M 9 aid-4m ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 11, 1927. I 1,645,026 P. sAcHs TRANSIT SYSTEM Filed July 5:, 1925 2 Shem- -51 2 fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!! .uusi ui Lllllll-lll'illl'lllllllllllll] I I I I 'L I I I I I I SE! Ill 2/ 3 l/VVI' 1P7 may; 76 M 9' Eatented Get. 11, i927 UNITED STATES PHILIP SACHS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRANSIT SYSTEM.

Application filed m a,

This invention relates to passenger transportation systems, and particularly to subways, although certain features may be used to advantage in other connections, for example, in railway terminals where the width of space available for tracks and platforms is limited.

The invention has for its principal object to provide a novel type of subway construction which can be installed beneath very narrow streets at reasonable expense, and which will avoid the inconvenience and danger to the public caused by the narrow platforms and the long stairs generally found in stations installed under such conditions in the past.

Narrow streets have been shunned by subway builders heretofore because of the difficulty of providing suitable station facilities beneath them. Where their use has been unavoidable, resort has been had in some cases to an island platform between the tracks for use with both of them, and if the space has been very limited this platform has been made of less than standard width which resulted in excessive crowding. Such an island platform requires a mezzanine over the tracks to communicate with entrances at both sides of the street and this necessitates lowering of the tracks and the loading platforms so that the trains may pass beneath the mezzanine. Lowering of the tracks makes more stairs to climb. This type of station also requires a widening and deepening of the subway excavations at stations and is otherwise expensive to construct.

Another type of station sometimes employed to meet the requirements of narrow streets is the double-deck station in which the tracks run one above the other with a loading platform opposite each of them. Such a station is obviously very inconvenient for passengers required to use the lower level. If a mezzanine is provided both tracks are further lowered; if not, all the entrances and exits for both uptown and downtown travel 'are necessarily located at one side of thestreet which results in congestion and confusion at entrances and on the surface.

In accordance with the present invention provision is made for handling all passengersat the first level below the street, the p I p showing'a combined uptown and downtown use of mezzanines and of two loading levels tracks arranged side by side.

1925. Serial No. 41,284.

being avoided, and yet the stations are not i substantially wider than the width of the Briefly stated this end is obtained by providing a series of one way stations, the uptown stations and the downtown stations being alternated along the line. At the uptown station the track is immediately beneath the street and the downtown track is run beneath the loading platform; at the downtown station these conditions are reversed, the downtown track being raised to the level immediately be neath the street and the uptown track being depressed and run beneath the loading, platform. The uptown 'and downtown platforms may be combined by a connecting island platform if the width of the street permits, to form an uptown and downtown station, or to gain other advantages.

The invention may have the advantage, in

addition to those already pointed out, of locating every station at an elevation, so that the trains are helped in stopping by an upgrade approaching the station, and are also helped in starting by a downgrade leaving the station. The station excavations may be both narrow and shallow so that the invention may be practiced with. economy even beneath the wider streets where its use is not demanded by space-limitations.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section showing a station'construc'ted in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the track and platform arrangement of two adjacent stations;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation showing the arrangement of the tracks and the platforms atand between several stations;

' Figure 4 isa vertical section on the line H of Figure 5 showing the invention applied to afour-track local and express system;

Figure 5 isa diagrammatic'plan view of uptown and downtown stations of the type shown in Figure 4 with a continuous island platform between the local tracks (which are the inside tracks).

Figure 6' is a' diagramma'tic plea-view localand express station and additional local stations, the local tracks being the outside tracks; and

Figure '7 is a side elevation of the con" struction shown in Figure 5. V I V In Figures 1 to 3 the invention is shown applied to a two-track subway builtbeneath a very narrow street 1. The buildings 2 along the street have their basements and foundations extending deep into the ground, substantially along the building lines 8. In constructing a subway along such a street the subway is confined to the space between the building lines, and great care must be taken to avoid injuring the under-ground portions of these buildings.

the street asis consistent with safe construction and operation, and the platform 7 is several feet above the tracks. The platform 7, so arranged, is obviously as near the surface as possible so that the passengers using station A have the shortest possible flight of stairs to contend with. The platform 7 is conveniently made wide enough to completely cover track 9 and may, therefore, be considerably wider than the usual standard width, single platform. The extra width adds greatly to the convenience of the traveling public.

At a suitable distance along the street from station A a downtown station Bis located. This station. is constructed according to precisely the same principle as station A, but the levels of the tracks 8 and 9 are reversed, the downtown track 9 rising from station A to station E and the track 8 descending and passing under the platform at station E. The platform 10 at station E is thus located at the same distance beneath the ground as the platform 7 at station A. The two stations together handle all uptown and downtown travel at this convenient level.

A third station C may be located beyond station E for uptown travel, and so that stations may be alternated as far as desired. The stations A, B. C, etc., may be substantially equally spaced as shown in Figure or they may be arranged in pairs, the two stations of a pair being located very close together if local conditions indicate that this would best serve the public.

of a short city block without exceeding a practical grade. It is important in this connection that the lower track is run beneath the platform at each station and not beneth the other track, for the platform stands considerably higher than the upper track. Since only the trains on track 8 stop at station A where track 8 is elevated, and only the trains on track 9 stop at station H, where track 9 is elevated, the trains are assisted in stopping at every station by an up grade approaching the station, and are assisted in starting by a downgrade leaving the station. This is an ideal operating condition because it enables the trains to start and stop very quickly. It is economical of power and is easy on brakes.

The excavation for a station constructed in accordance with the present invention is narrower and. shallower than the excavation that would be required for an island platform station provided with a mezzanine, and is shallower than the excavation that would be required for a double-deck station whether provided with a mezzanine or not. The compactness'of the station, moreover, reduces the amount of concrete and the work required for constructing the walls 11 and roof 12, and also reduces the number and size of the steel beams 13 required.

In Figures 4, 5 and 7 there is shown a four-track local and express system in which features of the present invention are utilized. In this system the tracks 13 and 14: are the uptown express and local tracks, respectively, and the tracks 15 and 16 are the downtown express and local tracks, respeo tlvely. At station D an island platform 17 extends between the local tracks and'joins an uptown local and express platform 18 built over the track 16 with a downtown local and express platform 19 built over the track 1%. The outside express tracks 13 and 15 run continuously at the upper level. The uptown local track 14, however, which is at the upper level opposite platform 18 descends to run beneath the platform 19, and the downtown local track 18 rises from beneath platform 18 to the upper level opposite platform 19. It willv be seen that passengers wishing to transfer from one up town train to another can do so by diso1nbarking at platform 18 and merely crossing saidplatform to a train on the other uptown track. Passengers wishing to transfer from one downtown train to another may do so in the same manner at platform 19. The

island platform forms a connecting link be-,

tween platforms 18 and 19, so that passengers can also change conveniently from either uptown track to either downtown track by Walking the length of the short connecting platform section without the necessity of climbing any stairs. It will be observed that although unusually wide platill forms are provided at 18 and 19 the station is no wider than the normal width of the four traclrs arranged side by side with the single island platform interposed.

The island platform may be continued berond station I) to additional local stations along the line in the manner and with the advantages disclosed in my Patent No. 1,616,55 l, dated February 8, 1927.

In Figure 6 a station E is shown at which the arrangement is different from that shown in Figures l, and 7. The outside tracks 20 and 21 are uptown and downtown local tracks, respectively, and the inside tracks 22 and 23 are uptown and downtown express tracks, respectively. An uptown express and local platform 24: over tr e r 28 is joined to a downtown express and local platform 25 over track 22 by a short pla form section 26. Local platforms 27 and 28 opposite platforms at and 25, respectively, may be used to materiall Y assist in handling local travel. The doors at both sides of the local trains are opened and as this doubles the entrance and exitcapacity of the trains the time required for loading and unloading passengers is very greatly reduced.

Additional local stations are indicated in Figure 6 by platforms 29.

Variations may be restored to within the scope of the invention, and parts of the 1mprovement may be used without others.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. A subway system having uptown and downtown passenger loading platforms at different points along the line, the uptown track running beneath the downtown loading platform, and the downtown track running beneath the uptown loading platform.

2. A subway system comprising uptown and downtown tracks arranged side by side, alternate uptown and downtown stations arranged in proximity to one another, loading platforms at the stations arranged at the first level below the street, the uptown track passing beneath the loading platform at the downtown station and rising to the loading level of the loading platform at the uptown station, and the downtown track passing beneath the loading platform at the uptown station and rising to the loading level of the loading platform at the downtown station.

3. A subway built in an excavation of double track width without extra breadth at the stations, comprising parallel uptown and downtown tracks arranged side by side and alternate uptown and downtown loading platforms located invariably at the first local and express tracks and downtown local and express tracks of a single platform so constructed and combined with said tracks that passengers may step directly from said platform into trains upon any of said tracks.

6. In a subway station the combination with express and local tracks at the same level, on which trains run in the same direction, and a track at a lower level between said first mentioned tracks on which trains run in the opposite direction, of asingle loading platform for both of the first mentioned tracks extending over the intervening track.

7. In a transportation system the combination with a series of tracks, of a loading platform for trains on said tracks a part of the tracks running at the loading level of the plat-form at one point but running beneath the platform at another point, and a part of said tracks running beneath the platform at the first point, but at the loading level at the second point.

8. In a subway system the combination with inside local tracks and outside express tracks of a continuous island platform between the local tracks and an express plat form connected with said continuous island platform and projecting over the local tracks.

9. In a subway system the combination with inside local tracks and outside express tracks of a continuous island platform between the local tracks and a loading platform common to all four tracks connected with the continuous island platform at an express station.

10. In a subway system the combination with inside and outside tracks of a loading platform, the inside tracks alternately dipping beneath the platform and rising to the level for cooperation therewith, and the outside tracks running at the level for cooperation with the platform, but not beneath it.

In testimony whereof I have atfixed my signature to this specification.

PHILIP SACHS. 

